Ahmad Husein – February 2025
John Burton, SFACT Founder, visited Indonesia and had a fruitful meeting with Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, on Friday, January 31st, at the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) headquarters in Jakarta. He was accompanied by SFACT representative in Indonesia, Toni Ruhimat, Ph.D., and Mrs. Putuh, Head of EEZ and High Seas Working Group, Directorate General of Capture Fisheries (DGCF).
From the minister’s side, he was accompanied by the Director General of Fish Products, Head of HRD, Senior Advisor to the Minister on Public Affairs and Inter-Institution Relations, Expert Staff to the Minister on Conservation and International Cooperation, Acting Secretary of DGCF, and Head of International Cooperation Bureau.
“John is coming to MMAF to discuss the sustainability of fisheries, especially tuna catching, and Indonesia’s leadership at CSA,” said the minister.
The courtesy visit aimed to introduce SFACT (a UK registered charity) and its activities in assisting MMAF through a cooperation with local NGO Rekam Nusantara to support Indonesia in creating and taking the lead of a coastal states alliance (CSA). This represents a collective effort of Indian Ocean coastal nations to promote sustainable tuna fisheries, crucial for regional economies, food security, and livelihoods.
In his presentation, John explained the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), its roles, and the current stock status of IOTC species. He also revealed several challenges that IOTC is still struggling to deal with, including the allocation of fishing opportunities; overfishing on several species such as yellowfin, bigeye, and skipjack; the dominance of distant water fishing nations, particularly the EU, who gained one-third of tropical tuna catch from 2018 to 2023 (2,700,000 tonnes); juvenile yellowfin and bigeye mortality around Fish Aggregating Devices (FADS) in the purse seine fishery; and along with issues with sharks.
Indonesia has also been encouraged to develop CSA at IOTC and is expected to become a permanent host/secretariat. This would be beneficial for the country to promote a better bargaining position for coastal nation members at IOTC.
“Indonesia is the best situated to host the CSA because of its strategic location and position as a key archipelagic nation connecting the Indian and Pacific Oceans,” John said. Indonesia provides logistical and symbolic advantages for CSA leadership. Indonesia also has fisheries expertise, with extensive experience in tuna management and significant contributions to regional stocks. Indonesia offers valuable technical and governance leadership. Regarding diplomatic influence, SFACT sees Indonesia’s strong ties within IOTC and regional organizations enabling it to mediate effectively between diverse stakeholders. Last but not least, Indonesia has a strong sustainability commitment through initiatives in vessel monitoring, data collection, and conservation, which underscore Indonesia’s dedication to sustainable fisheries, aligning with CSA’s goals.
SFACT has been recently assisting and funding some MMAF programs, especially DGCF, in improving and restructuring Indonesia’s data of tuna for IOTC. Several workshops on tuna data and technical assistance from IOTC experts have been conducted. SFACT facilitated MMAF to participate in the IOTC regional meeting and provided doctoral scholarship support for 8 MMAF staff.
To date, SFACT’s assistance focuses on tuna/tuna-like species management, while in the future SFACT expects to support Indonesia on small-scale fisheries (SSF) programmes with introduction and roll out of Community Catch, a standard for small-scale fisheries, the development of which, SFACT has been a key donor.
